MISCELLANY
EndNotes
Everything is New
No man ever steps
in the same river twice,
for the second time
it is not the same river,
and the second time
he is not the same man.
— HERACLITUS
Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BCE
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The Twinkle of CYC Work
Many a participant in the profession of child and youth work has pointed
to the necessity of something other than ‘skill’ in the repertoire of
tools used by child and youth workers to engage with children and youth.
Trieschman (1982) referred to it as ‘the twinkle in your eye,’ Carol
Stuart (2007) calls it ‘values and habits,’ and Mark Krueger (2000,
2004) has repeatedly made reference to the need for passion and
commitment. In his refreshingly offensive editorial in the Journal of
Child and Youth Care, Fewster (2007) laments the disappearance of ‘our
wild ambition to change the world.’ Garfat (2002) tried to figure out
what ‘it’ is by simply asking practitioners in the field for their
‘secret.’ Ernie Nightingale (2000) suggests that what is required is a
‘spiritual depth’ and recognizing one’s ‘inner need for strength’, while
Thomas Linton and Michael Forster (2002) listed amongst requirements
idealism, pragmatism, intelligence, empathy, commitment, and courage.
James Anglin (2002) encourages us to use our ‘talents, energy and
passion to the full,’ happily omitting references to skills,
knowledge, or experience.
— KIARIS GHARABAGHI
Gharabagh, K. (2007). The Vagrancies of Passion
and the Dance of Arrogance. Relational Child and
Youth Care Practice, Vol.20 No.4., pp. 23-29
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OLD-TIME SUPERVISION
“You participate with enthusiasm during staff
meetings
and never hesitate to offer creative suggestion
or opinion. That has to stop.”
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Words, words, words ...
As a psychiatrist, I run into a major difficulty at
the outset; how can I go straight to the patients if the words at my
disposal keep the patient at a distance from me?
How can one demonstrate the general human relevance and significance of
the patient's condition if the words one has to use are specially
designed to isolate and circumscribe the meaning of the patient's life
to a particular clinical entity?
It seems extraordinary that whereas the physical and biological sciences
of it-processes have generally won the day against tendencies to
personalise the world of things or to read human intentions into the
animal world, an authentic science of persons has hardly got started by
reason of the inveterate tendency to depersonalise or reify persons.
— R.D. LAING, The Divided Self 1960
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Things could be worse. We could
have 35 teachers to one child in
our classrooms!
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“A smile is an inexpensive way
to improve your looks.”
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THE LIFE CYCLE
